Pregnancy week 15: symptoms, baby size and tips
Pregnancy week 15 is still within the second trimester, that time when many women feel their energy coming back and start to feel like themselves again. Your baby is now about 10 centimetres, roughly the size of an apple, and some fascinating things are happening this week: its skeleton is growing firmer, it may even have hiccups, and it’s starting to hear you. Let me tell you everything that’s going on.
If you’re coming from pregnancy week 14, you’ve already left the heaviest part of the first trimester behind. And to have the whole path at hand, check out our pregnancy week by week guide.
What is pregnancy week 15?
As always, pregnancy weeks are counted from the first day of your last period (LMP), not from conception. In week 15 you’re about 13 weeks from fertilisation, in your fourth month (weeks 14–17) and still in the second trimester, which runs from week 13 to week 28.
Your placenta is still doing pretty much all the work (making hormones, including progesterone, and keeping your baby well fed), so your hCG levels keep stabilising gradually. That’s why many women feel relieved and more energetic this week. And on top of that, your bump is starting to show: your uterus now rises above your pelvis, which also tends to ease those very frequent urges to pee from the early weeks.
What can you see on a week 15 scan?
This isn’t usually a week for routine scans, but if you have one, you’ll see a baby that has grown a huge amount:
- Its skeleton is hardening: the bones are getting firmer and look more defined on the scan, especially in the head and arms.
- It moves non-stop: it bends and stretches its arms and legs, turns around and even sucks its thumb.
- Its legs are now longer than its arms, and its joints (elbows, knees) work brilliantly.
- It may have hiccups: the diaphragm is already working, and those rhythmic little “sobs” are a sign it’s growing well. On scans you sometimes spot those hiccups as small jumps.
- Its head is more proportionate to its body now, no longer that giant “ball” from earlier weeks.
If you haven’t taken a test yet, don’t worry: your hCG is still high and any test is very reliable. You can take our free online pregnancy test for guidance with your symptoms, and if you fancy a distraction, try our finger pregnancy test game: it’s just a
